Re: The Corporate History of the SwatKats

From: DJ Clawson <djclawson_at_garden.net>
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 17:13:53 -0400

Chance wrote:
  Also, kids in schools across the U.S. couldn't
>buy so much as a T-shirt of the guys (compare that to all the "Goof Troop"
stuff out
>there), so many of 'em did "SwatKats" T's in art class. Can you imagine Ted
>telling a roomful of such kids that the reason for cancelling the show is
because
>it "isn't selling enough merchandise"? Each and every one of them would
walk up
>to Ted and say "tell my mom where we can buy stuff! I don't draw as good
as you!".

   Hmm, sounds like me (though I bought the stuff myself). I spend most of
the classes I can afford to drift off in drawing Jake, Razor, T-Bone,
Chance, Thoran, Sevian, Jake's kid, and just about anyone else from my
stories that I can think of and draw (Felina included, as a gargoyle). Now
if only I had a scanner, and SOME ABI PICS!! (hint hint)

<TONS of stuff about SK politics snipped--go read his note>

  Isn't it odd all my favorite shows have corporate problems?
  I'm not going to go *too* deep into the politics of seaQuest, but I'll
tell you--it was a mess. The show started decent in the first seasonm and
don't let *anyone* from NBC or Universal Studios tell you differently, but
it got reasonably good ratings. It pulled in a few noches ahead of "Lois and
Clark" in the end of the year.
   Season 2, and Warren Littlefield--a man I consider on the evolution level
of Ten Turner--orders "more flesh" and hires producers that turns it into
"bayQuest: the search from cleavge." Among the stars, most were against it,
but were also against the concept of getting the axe for speaking up. Among
them, the only one not fearing for his job becuase he had *the* role was Roy
Schieder, who played captain Bridger. When we started getting "Nepture the
Greek (yes, it's a Roman name, but they said he was Greek) G-d attacks
seaQuest" and "Giant 200 foot alligator attacks seaQuest", Roy was the only
one to speak up, being the only person on the show with less of a chance of
getting fired for not keeping his mouth shut was Jonathan Brandis (who *did*
unfortunately, keep *his* mouth shut). Fans launched a "save seaQuest"
campaign at the end of the season, hoping for a second renewal, and a return
to science--as Roy also hoped for. It *was* renewed, thanks to it's awesome
timeslot--right after Football in the winter--that proped up ratings
articifially so the writers thought their "monster of the week" s--t was
worth something.
    Season 3 did get a make over--it turned into "warQuest" and Roy ditched.
*Why* was it turned this way? Because one producer--a man I consider *lower*
on the evolution scale than Ted Turner--Patrick Hasburgh. He and Lee
Goldberg (another producer) got on the internet to supposivally, "talk with
the fans." Don't listen to cr-p like that. They were serfing for
compliments, and don't let ANYONE tell you differently. I was *on* the
newgroup when they showed up. Once they discovered how disappointed fans
were in the upcoming season as it looked--ditching Schieder, science, and
the emmy winning musical score by John Debney--they immediately launched a
"Give us three episodes!" campaign with the new captain, Michael Ironside.
Some of you may have heard about it in the TV Guide article. Anyway, three
Questies (Mary Feller, Jen Lui-Grushka, and Martha) lauched the "Save
seaQuest" campaign to bring back Schieder and science. Mary's WWW page with
a form to fill out asking fan options got some 1500-15000 hits over the
summer, all of which were denied by Hasburgh and Goldberg. The two continued
their own "Give us three episodes" campaign, not to really give them three
episodes, but to get into the 3rd season. They knew that once Sept. rolled
around, any major changes (such as replacing the new captain with Schieder)
would be too late and rendered impossible. In fact, so many fans *did* say,
"Ok, we'll play fair and watch 3 episodes," unaware that the show risked
cancellation after *every* one, and even getting 1 episode into the season
was too late to ask for changes. We fans didn't know this, aside from the
three Questies in charge of the "Rescue seaQuest" campaign--who new what the
light at the end of the tunnel was.
   The summer continued, and Goldbergy and Hasburgh continued promising a
good season on the newsgroups. This began what is referred to as "The Mother
Of All Flame Wars" because all fans did where flame them until the point of
where *no one* could understand why they simply weren't getting the message
that the show was going to suck and no one was going to like it. I was part
of these flames, having a few conversations with Hasburgh myself, whereopen
he announced, "I watched Crimson Tide over the summer and got all inspired."
At that point, I knew we were in trouble. The producers were *incredibly*
rude to the fans, the actors and actresses, and the crew. I was conversing
notes with Hasburgh, complaining how I didn't like any of the changes and
the season sounded horrible, and he said, QUOTE, "Watch the first three. If
you don't like it, you can call my mother and tell her I'm a, a--."
    Fan relations can be a BAD thing, people.
    The first episode aired, and I e-mailed him to ask him what his mom's
phone number was. He never responded (I wonder why).
    Anyway, the show went down in flames, and the producers *mysteriously
disappeared* from the newgroups. The show was canned with 3 episodes never
aired and ten aired (interesting, SWAT Kats aired 10 and never *made* 3).
The back 9 episodes of the season, never made, were constantly promised "to
be the best of the season" by the producers before they got the axe.
    There's actually more to this story, but I'll stop babbling now. Sorry
if I got a little ongoing--I had some anger to vent.


Dr. Jake Clawson
(djclawson_at_garden.net) President of the Prodigy SWAT Kat Club
(XXRJ13C_at_prodigy.com) e-mail me for details
------------------------------------------------------------------
         "Accidents are conspiricies we don't know about."
                                   -Sensei McGee
------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Jake Clawson
(djclawson_at_garden.net)
(XXRJ13C_at_prodigy.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------
         "Accidents are conspiricies we don't know about."
                                   -Sensei McGee
------------------------------------------------------------------


Received on Tue May 28 1996 - 17:30:08 PDT